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The return to Hogwarts was not what Hermione had expected; she had expected to come back to learn and get her N.E.W.Ts, but not this. She and Ron were making their way to the Great Hall, where the injured were being treated; the Death Eaters had retreated after Voldemort's message.
Ron cleared his throat, swallowing.
"Umm... Hermione?" He said, his voice shaking slightly.
Hermione turned to look at her best friend and then followed his line of sight. Across the hall, in a small row were Hogwarts' students. Specifically, Slytherins. She looked a little closer at them until she gasped.
"Theo." Hermione ran over, collapsing next to the dark-haired boy, not even realising the tears flowing down her cheeks. She grasped the hand of the Slytherin in front of her, the rest of the world a blur around her.
"You were supposed to leave with the rest of the Slytherins, why didn't you leave?" She whispered to herself. "Why did you stay?"
But Hermione already knew the answer. She knew that Theo wouldn't have left while there were still younger students sneaking back in, for good or evil purposes.
"They're still children." She could picture him saying.
"But so were you." She whispered back.
Hermione closed her eyes, pushing her hair away from her face and unclasped her bracelet, closing his cold fingers around the metal.
"I'm sorry."
...
The courtyard was full of shouting and flashes, curses were thrown backwards and forwards from both parties. Hermione snarled as she threw a stunner at the back of a masked Death Eater. Harry's body had disappeared and Hermione would recover it, even if it meant she and Ron had to kill Voldemort himself to get it back. Burying her grief, she redoubled her efforts, zeroing in on where one of the seventh-year Hufflepuffs had fallen to Bellatrix's wand. She made eye contact with Ginny a few metres away, who nodded. Sirius' murderer saw their challenge and started laughing hysterically before brandishing her wand.
"Think you little girls can take me. Oh wait, one little girl and a mudblood." She started cackling again.
Hermione wasn't sure who made the first move, but then she and Ginny were duelling for their lives. A few minutes later, Luna joined them, but neither side was gaining any ground. Bellatrix was unstable, which made her unpredictable. They used their number to their advantage, bombarding the Death Eater with spells but they couldn't get close due to the number of killing curses flying out of their opponent's wand. Suddenly, there was an opening as Bellatrix turned a fraction towards Ginny and away from her, Hermione took it.
"Bombarda!" She yelled, pointing her wand at Bellatrix while dropping her shield.
The other witch was thrown backwards off her feet, but at the same time, Bellatrix threw one last killing curse. Hermione was defenceless. In the last few seconds, she made eye contact with Ron, who looked at her in horror.
"Diffindo!" She heard Ron shout, she knew it would make its target.
"Find him." She mouthed before closing her eyes.
...
The first time Hermione noticed Theodore Nott was when she ran into him after a particularly nasty potions lesson with the Slytherins during their First Year. Wanting to research the ingredients of their latest assignment, she rushed off to the library, settling down to research and snatching the book she needed off of the shelf. An hour later, she became conscious of another student standing in front of her.
"Can I help you?" She asked, addressing the boy in green robes.
"I need that book." He said simply, pointing at the book resting on the desk.
"Oh." Hermione said, looking at the book. She hadn't quite finished with it yet... but. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement and instinctively covered her head with her arms. She had had one too many encounters with those who would stoop to physical methods of bullying, muggle and wizard alike. When no blow came, she looked up at the Slytherin who had tilted his head to the side.
"I don't hurt children." He said, almost turning his nose up at her with an air of superiority.
"I'm older than you?" Hermione responded.
"19th September?" The boy said to her.
"You know when my birthday is?" Hermione asked surprised.
"No, that's my birthday." He said.
"What time were you born?" Hermione questioned, wishing to know if she was indeed older.
"What relevance does that have?" He shot back, sitting down and pulling the book towards him.
"Surely that's upside down for you now." The Gryffindor commented.
"Obviously." The mysterious Slytherin responded. "Can't you read upside down?"
Hermione was about to huff and protest until she saw a half smile on the boy's face.
"Fine. You win." She said after some thought.
They sat in surprisingly comfortable silence, since it was a Friday evening, the library was quieter than usual, with no exams in sight for the next few months. After an hour of nonstop writing, Hermione had finally finished all three feet of her essay. She began to pack away her belongings into her satchel, turning the book the right way around for her strange study partner before making her way back to Gryffindor Tower.
"What a strange Slytherin." She thought.
...
The second time Hermione saw Theodore Nott, was after the fiasco of their first year, when they bumped into each other at the Owlery. Harry was still in the Hospital Wing and Ron was retelling his tales of glory somewhere in the Common Room, since he had now recovered from his concussion. Hermione was there to bring Hedwig some bacon since she had been looking down since she had not seen Harry in a while.
"All recovered now?" A voice came from behind her.
"Yes, thank you.... um." Hermione said turning around.
The boy looked at her with a calculating look before nodding.
"Theodore Nott."
"Hermione Granger."
Theodore, as Hermione had been told, then simply turned away and so she did the same tending to Hedwig as they both waited for Harry to wake.
...
The third time Hermione talked to Theodore Nott was during their second year. The rumours about the Chamber of Secrets were flying left, right and centre and Hermione was tired of them. Not only was she dividing her time between brewing their illegal batch of Polyjuice Potion and keeping on top of all her studies, but there was the added avoidance of any Slytherins who hoped that she would be next.
"What book did you take out of the Restricted Section?" Theodore asked, pushing a stack of books Hermione had piled up in front of her in favour of him pulling the Astronomy textbook that was out on the table, towards him as he got out a quill with some parchment. Hermione panicked slightly but decided to avoid his question.
"Can't you ever start a conversation normally?" She asked the strange Slytherin.
"No." He replied, "Don't avoid the question." Hermione cursed internally.
"It's about the Chamber of Secrets." She admitted a half-truth.
"Really?" The Slytherin raised his eyebrow with more cynicism than a mere 13-year-old should be able to manage.
Hermione just hummed in response, turning back to her Astronomy work. She was suspicious of the boy opposite her, though she didn't really have much reason to be outside of the fact that he was a Slytherin.
"Are you even allowed to be talking to me?" She asked, she knew that Malfoy would throw a fit if he found out.
"Why not?" He asked.
"Wouldn't Malfoy be on your case for talking to a mugg- mudblood, as he likes to call me." She said. Finding out about the discrimination that Muggle-born Witches and Wizards like her had to face was almost heartbreaking, but it made her more determined to prove to herself and anybody who would question it that she deserved her place in this world.
"Draco's all talk." He responded, "And besides, I'm a better duelist than he is."
Hermione didn't fully believe that there wouldn't be repercussions, but she decided that it wasn't really her problem.
It was quite nice, she decided, to be studying with someone that didn't need her help and actually wanted to be there, well maybe wanted to be there.
The Slytherin got up silently and left. Hermione didn't even consider that there were other copies of that Astronomy textbook as she smiled to herself in the quiet corner of the library.
...
The fourth time Hermione bumped into Theodore Nott was at the library, unsurprisingly. The plan to infiltrate the Slytherin Common Room was a success, but they were no closer to finding the mysterious Heir of Slytherin. This time, however, it was Hermione who was in need of his textbook rather than the other way around.
The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were slightly ahead, and so all of the extra Potion's reference books were currently booked out of the library, all except the one Hermione could see propped up in front of one Theodore Nott. Debating on how to best approach the subject, she eventually came to the conclusion that a straightforward approach would be best. Quickly checking her surroundings, she did her best to walk casually over to the table, dropping her heavy bag on the floor before rearranging the textbook so she could see the text upside down. The Slytherin said nothing, continuing to write his essay with sloping cursive. Hermione said nothing either.
...
The fifth time Theodore Nott saw Hermione Granger, she was not aware of it. She lay still, frozen by an unknown monster on a bed in the Hospital Wing. The Slytherin had snuck in, a piece of paper in his hand, ripped out of a library book with Hermione's handwriting on it. Theodore wasn't even sure why he was here, but it was too late to back out now. He had seen Hermione rushing past him before the Quidditch Game, mirror in hand and then somehow he just knew. Hermione had discovered the nature of Slytherin's Monster.
After she and the older Ravenclaw had been moved out of the library to the Hospital, he had traced Hermione's steps until they led him to a book on magical and mythical creatures. Flicking quickly through the pages, he found the page on the Basilisk, the word pipes written in the margin of the page. But he knew he would have to be quick, soon they would clamp down on the security of the Hospital Wing and if he wanted Potter and Weasley to get the note that Hermione had undoubtedly written for them, he had to move immediately.
He ducked behind the curtain, kneeling on the bedside chair, hidden by the curtain so that his feet couldn't be seen. Crumpling up the ball of paper, he closed the Gryffindor's fingers around the ball and then before he could second-guess his actions, he ran.
...
The fifth time Hermione saw Theodore Nott, she had just come out of the Hospital Wing, he was sitting in one of the windowsills across the courtyard, a textbook open in his lap as he leant his back on the side of the archway. Hermione thought about waving, but realised that she didn't really know anything about the Slytherin. As she turned away to make her way to the Great Hall, the boy looked up. They seemed to live in such separate worlds.
...
The sixth time Hermione saw Theodore Nott, he was with the other second year Slytherins. Hermione was making her way to the library to return all the books she had borrowed to start researching her electives for next year. She put her head down and quickly tried to walk past them but the next thing she knew, she had been pushed over, the set of notes she had collected was scattered all over the floor.
"Whoops, excuse me, mudblood." She glared at Pansy Parkinson, the culprit behind her fall. The other girl always seemed to go out of her way to make her life difficult.
"You're excused, Parkinson." Hermione said sweetly, picking herself and her bag off the floor. She pulled her wand out, startling the other girl, who jumped to pull her wand out in some attempt of defence, but Hermione merely waved her wand at the floor, gathering all her dropped belongings, which she then carefully placed in her already overflowing bag.
As she continued to make her way to the library, she heard Pansy start to mutter a spell under her breath before someone stopped her.
"Theo!" Pansy screeched, "Give me my wand back."
"Nope. We're late enough as it is, let's go."
Hermione was confused, but Nott's words made her realise that she too would be late if she didn't hurry and return these books to the library. Rushing away, his strange actions flew out of her mind.
...
The seventh time Hermione saw Theodore Nott was in her first Arithmancy lesson, where they were assigned desk partners. Professor Vector had finished their introductory lecture and was now teaching them basic algebra by Muggle standards, mixed in with some probability. Hermione thought that the method that they were being taught was quite strange in comparison to the Muggle way, and so she pulled another piece of parchment out of her bag and started jotting down notes for the comparisons. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nott reading through her extra notes before giving her a strange look.
He quickly scribbled something on a piece of parchment.
Where did you find that method? The scrap was pushed over to her.
Muggle method. She scribbled back, not wanting to stray too far from Professor Vector's teachings.
She slid the note back.
Show me later. Library 7pm. Was returned to her.
Hermione furrowed her brows. Was this some sort of trick? As if he had read her mind, another note was placed on her side of the desk.
No tricks, honest.
Going against her initial gut instinct, Hermione scribbled back:
7pm then.
...
The eighth time Hermione saw Theodore Nott, she taught him the algebra the muggle way and he listened and learned. She was thrilled to spend time with someone who seemed to thrive on knowledge the same way she did. Perhaps he did not show it the same way, barely participating in class where he could get away with it, but the end-of-year exam results spoke for themselves. They spent the evening discussing the merits of both methods and the different situations where each method's weaknesses showed. Hermione felt herself relaxing in front of Theodore Nott for the first time.
...
The ninth time Hermione saw Theodore Nott, they were in another Arithmancy lesson. They were still working on algebra, Hermione still taking separate notes about comparisons to other methods. They didn't really speak to each other, though they did send each other notes. Hermione didn't know why she didn't just ignore the notes because while they weren't malicious, they were distracting. She didn't know why he was writing the notes either when they didn't have to work in silence, but Hermione didn't ask. She did, however, raise an eyebrow when another note was shifted over to her.
Library. 7?
She tilted her head to the side and nodded.
...
The tenth time Hermione saw Theodore Nott, he was sitting at the usual table in the library, their latest arithmancy assignment in front of him.
"Granger." He greeted, not looking up.
"Hermione is fine." She said, pulling her parchment out of her bag. The Slytherin made no acknowledgement of her statement and continued to make progress on the assignment.
"What did you get for 4b?" He asked.
"28." Hermione said, looking up as the boy opposite her frowned.
"Hmm." He picked up her parchment and quickly scanned through her work. "I think you need to factorise here rather than divide."
Hermione quickly grabbed back her parchment and started scribbling the corrections in.
"26." She scanned through her workings, double-checking them again.
"That makes more sense since it's the doubling of thirteen, but I keep getting a solution of 25 which does not make sense." Nott told her, "We've used the same method but not come to the same solution."
"4a?" Hermione prompted.
"325?"
"338 is what I worked out, Nott pass me your parchment?" She held out her hand and was handed the requested item.
"Here... and you can call me Theo."
...
Hermione lost count of the times she had seen Theodore Nott, Theo, after that.
...
In their fourth year, Hermione had less time due to the loss of her time turner, but more time due to the oh so tragic loss of Divination. The year seemed to have started off smoothly, but as September bled into October and October blurred into November, it was clear that things would not be so smooth. The date was the 14th of November and Harry only had ten days until the first task. Hermione looked up and down at the pile of books in front of her and the stack of notes about past Triwizard Tournaments, they were running out of time. The hours went by and the words eventually blurred into nothing.
She felt someone shaking her shoulder gently. She opened her eyes, rubbing them.
"This isn't a good place to sleep you know." She rolled her eyes at Theo, who was standing in front of her.
"Hello Theo." She said deciding it had probably been enough studying for one day. Hermione picked up her wand and waved it over her belongings, collecting them in a pile before unceremoniously shoving them into her bag. She then began the slow process of returning the books she had borrowed back to their original places. Hermione noticed that Theo's robes were absent of the Potter Stinks badge.
"Did Malfoy come up with the magic for the badges or..." She started.
"Pay someone else to do it for him?" Theo laughed. "Yeah, pretty much the usual."
Hermione huffed in response.
"You know Draco's not all bad right?" Theo asked.
"I said to him last year that he was a foul, loathsome, evil little cockroach." Hermione said, deadpan.
"I heard about that." Theo said smiling. "Did you hit him like he said you did?"
"I'm less proud of that part. But it did feel good to finally give him a taste of his own medicine." Hermione grinned until she noticed Theo's worried expression.
"Has he hit you before? What's that supposed to mean." He asked concerned.
"Oh, no, that's Parkinson's job. I just meant instead of just ignoring him." Hermione said absentmindedly, still focused on the library books. Theo changed the topic.
"Has Potter got a plan for the task?" He asked.
Hermione tilted her hand from side to side.
"Sort of?" Hermione said.
"The task is next week."
"He'll be fine."
Theo raised an eyebrow at this.
"We'll see."
...
"So, you and Krum?" Hermione jumped as Theo pushed some of her textbooks aside.
"Who told you that?" Hermione hissed across the table.
"I saw him ask you." Theo replied, grinning mischievously.
"Please don't-" She started.
"Tell anyone?" Theo made a zipping motion with his hand.
"Who're you going with." Hermione asked.
"Daphne." Theo said plainly, face not displaying any emotion. It was Hermione's turn to raise her eyebrows at that.
"Greengrass?"
"Politics." Theo waved his hand dismissively and said, "Daphne didn't want to go with one of the upper years, and this Beauxbaton's student kept following her around. Apparently I'm a safer bet than Blaize."
"You'll have to make sure her French stalker doesn't return then." Hermione said, mildly concerned for the female Slytherin. While they had not exchanged many words, Greengrass was mostly neutral in most of the confrontations she had been present for.
"Naturally." Theo responded dryly.
...
It was New Year's Day, Victor had quickly become one of her close friends, and she and Ron weren't exactly on speaking terms with each other. Harry was sort of awkwardly floating between them, but he mostly spent his time with Ron. It was almost like a bitter divorce settlement, Hermione supposed. Her friendship with the Slytherin was still a secret, they still met up almost every evening in the library at 7 on the weekdays. This habit had ceased over the Yule break and it had made her realise that she missed it dearly.
She was passing through the courtyard when she felt her legs locked together, causing her to fall to her knees, grazing them. Hermione drew her wand, pointing it at her feet while muttering the counter-curse. Hermione could hear the laughter of her attacker around the corner, their footsteps fading as they walked off. Hermione could feel her knees stinging as she brushed off some of the gravel on them, she looked in her bag for a handkerchief to wipe some of the blood away. She sighed in frustration as she couldn't find one. Suddenly, a white handkerchief transfigured into an origami bird flew over to her, fluttering in the air in front of her. Taking note of the initials sewn into its wing, she caught it gently as it unfolded in her hands. She looked up and made eye contact with her friend before they looked away. She felt warmed by his actions, which found a small way to comfort her.
It was these little things that made Hermione Granger realise that she liked the Slytherin boy known as Theodore Nott.
...
At the end of her fifth year, Hermione received a parcel. She was lying in a bed in the hospital wing, still recovering from Dolohov's curse.
She carefully peeled back the brown paper to uncover a note.
This will protect you from most hexes and a few of the minor curses, please wear it.
Stay safe.
The note wasn't signed, but it didn't need to be. Hermione clasped the bracelet around her left wrist and tucked it underneath the hospital gown.
It was the small gestures.
...
The last time Hermione spoke to Theodore Nott was in their sixth year. Hermione had buried her feelings under all of her stresses and pressures over the summer, until she herself hardly thought about them anymore. Tensions were rising and she hardly saw Theo around. Whenever they would make eye contact, he would quickly avert his eyes, and he began to look paler and paler as time went on.
"I'm telling you, Hermione. He's one of them." Harry hissed at her from across the table.
"Who is?" Hermione said, only half listening.
"Malf- Hermione?" Harry said waving his hand in front of her face. Hermione shook herself out of her thoughts, "You there?"
"Yeah, just thinking." Hermione replied.
"Well you're gonna miss breakfast if you think so much." Ron nudged her with his elbow. This caused her to elbow him back in the ribs before quietly eating her piece of toast. She scanned her eyes across the hall, hovering over the group of Slytherins. In fact, Malfoy wasn't looking well either. Hermione was sure she had read something about the ill effects of taking the... Suddenly a pair of brown eyes bore into her own. Theo nodded his head at the door.
"I need to go to the library." She said standing up abruptly.
"Okay?" Harry said, him and Ron making eye contact across the table before shrugging, but Hermione was already making a beeline for the doors.
"How's your summer been, Granger?"
"Just fine. You would know if you opened any of my letters." Hermione said coldly. All of her letters had been returned by her owl. Unopened, untouched.
"It was too dangerous." Theo said.
"Really? And you couldn't have written a note? What did you think I gave you that piece of parchment for?" Hermione asked. She had given Theo an enchanted piece of parchment that would mirror what was written on the other piece. The pieces themselves were not too large, only for short messages, but they were virtually indestructible.
"I- it was burned. Fiendfyre." Explained the Slytherin. "I would have written but..." He trailed off.
"You can produce a Patronus?" Hermione said slowly.
"..." The two sixth years stared at each other for a few moments.
"Not anymore." He said sadly. Hermione followed his gaze towards his arm and gasped.
"You didn't." Hermione said.
"I didn't have a choice. He's living at the Malfoys', and I'm living with the Malfoys', so I'm living with him."
"We can go to Dumbledore, he can hide you."
"No, I can't. Dumbledore knows I've been marked, the same way I can feel the Mark on Snape. There aren't many options left. The younger Slytherins are divided, and the half-bloods are getting worse and worse treatment every day. I can't leave them."
They stood in silence for a while. No one had more to say, but neither of them wanted to leave, until Hermione realised.
"You need to obliviate me."
"Are you crazy? I can't obliviate you." The Slytherin's eyes were wide.
"You don't have a choice." Hermione said. "If anyone finds out I know about..." She gestured at his arm. "You'll be killed. Or worse."
"I can't do the charm." Theo protested, "Well, not on you."
"I'm not asking." Hermione said.
"But you're not even of the majority age."
"Neither are you." Hermione grabbed his arm, "Theo this will keep both of us safe. Harry already suspects that Malfoy's been marked, I can't lie to him."
"It's too dangerous."
"I'm aware of the risks."
Theo drew his wand, hand shaking.
"Are you sure?" Theo said. Hermione nodded.
Hermione closed her eyes, focusing on the silence around her.
"You'll have to erase all suspicions that I have of yours and Malfoy's ill appearances."
"You'll be even less likely to believe he's been marked."
"I know."
"And you won't remember this conversation."
"I know."
"Hermione?" She hummed in response.
"I love you." The Slytherin confessed.
"I-" But she was cut off.
"Obliviate."
I love you
...
The funeral of Hermione Jean Granger was a quiet affair. After a not-so-private announcement of her funeral from the Prophet, Harry had warded the place shut from unwanted visitors. He and Ron felt as if there was a piece of them missing.
"When I first met Hermione. She was a bookworm know-it-all." Ron started, "And she told me I had dirt on my nose, and that my spell to turn a rat yellow was not a very good spell." He laughed hollowly. "I couldn't understand what could convince her to stick so many facts and so much information into her head. I think my head would explode. Although, if it's related, Hermione once told me I had the emotional range of a teaspoon. Hermione was one of my best friends. She was smart, brave, and so bloody loyal. It's safe to say that Harry and I probably wouldn't be here if not for Hermione. I... I'm going to miss you so much." Ron said, facing the casket and falling silent.
Harry took this as his queue.
"When we were first years, Hermione told me that there were more important things than books and cleverness: friendship. When we first met on the Hogwarts Express, she told me that she had read all about me and it freaked me out a bit at first. But Hermione stuck with me through thick and thin. Hell, we broke into Gringotts and rode out on a dragon of all things. She was always seen to be the sensible one of the three of us but in some ways she was just as crazy. Perhaps not so impulsive though, if she was, things would have been even more of a disaster. Hermione was brilliant, she was... Hermione, you were like the sister I never had."
Hermione was buried at her local church, next to the grave of Theodore Nott, laid side by side as they were in the Great Hall during the aftermath of the Battle. Some tried to fight Ron and Harry over their placement, but they felt no need to explain themselves.
It was what she would have wanted.